A thought for everyone thinking about starting a Madden online franchise

[mcstl25]

To those of us that have been around the Madden scene for a while, let me know if this sounds familiar. As the hype builds around the release of the next Madden game, we begin to see a slew of sign-up threads for new Madden leagues. The demand to get into each league is overwhelming at first. There may even be a waiting list 10 or more deep.

After Madden drops, the first four weeks of each league go over pretty well. But as September turns to October, interest begins to fade among owners, especially those that are 0-4 or 1-3. By the end of October, the once deep waiting lists are barren and one-by-one leagues begin to fold.

We see this take place every year. My guess is that outside of 220 (which didn't even make it last year), maybe 10 percent of leagues finish a complete season.

The circle is coming around again this year. I'm already seeing sign-ups for three or four different VSN Madden leagues.

My question is, why not combine the resources going into 220, the Haven, and The Golden Turducken and have one exclusive VSN league?

This is obviously just a suggestion on my part. A suggestion that is based on my experience playing in Madden leagues for the past six years. I will guarantee that at least two of the three leagues mentioned above will fail by week 10. Why not get the best group of 32 together and put everything into making one league successful?

 

[JOHNNYTHECLOWN]

theHAVEN is a smaller league, created so that it actually finishes a season.

i have no prob combining ideas I have for theHAVEN with 220 or TGT - i mean imma be contributin to all 3 anyway

but all 3 do have a different niche...

220 - league
TGT - franchise
theHAVEN - small league

if its a good game of madden - it'll make it past december... if it's a shitty game, well, EA disappoints again and we all worked n got our hopes up for nothing

 

[mcstl25]

I feel you JTC and agree that the success of online Madden leagues is highly dependent on how good the game is. However, even back in 04-06 when the MM community was stronger than ever, leagues still failed. I just think it would be pretty cool to have one official Madden league/franchise here at VSN that everyone, including commishes and owners, gave their complete attention to. This would not only make the league games more meaningful, it would also greatly reduce the chance of failure.

 

[Archer]

GGML went 10 seasons in 09 and 12 or so in 08

Any league will do good with the right people running it IMO

But on the other hand I do agree , alot of Leagues pop out of nowhere then quickly dissapear and it becomes a pain

 

[mcstl25]

GGML went 10 seasons in 09 and 12 or so in 08

Any league will do good with the right people running it IMO

But on the other hand I do agree , alot of Leagues pop out of nowhere then quickly dissapear and it becomes a pain

Things may very well end up being different here at VSN, but the problem we always had with MM leagues was the same core group would play in the same three or four leagues. By mid season, most guys were burnt out.

Congrats on the success of GGML the past few years. I'll have to check the league out.

 

[JOHNNYTHECLOWN]

I feel you JTC and agree that the success of online Madden leagues is highly dependent on how good the game is. However, even back in 04-06 when the MM community was stronger than ever, leagues still failed. I just think it would be pretty cool to have one official Madden league/franchise here at VSN that everyone, including commishes and owners, gave their complete attention to. This would not only make the league games more meaningful, it would also greatly reduce the chance of failure.

that's completly true and yeah leagues did fail a bunch in MM

TGT is the official franchise of VSN... 220 is 220, i think they just haven't gotten the site up, idk if they're keepin the forums at VSN

 

[Archer]

Things may very well end up being different here at VSN, but the problem we always had with MM leagues was the same core group would play in the same three or four leagues. By mid season, most guys were burnt out.

Congrats on the success of GGML the past few years. I'll have to check the league out.

Yeah I agree that it's about the core . Its not that hard to keep a league going so long when you have 20+ plus guys who are active coming back every season .

I hope you find some good leagues on VSN though

Just stick with the people that you know /trust because from past experience there is quite a few random leagues that burn out quick

 

[Poundtherock]

GGML went 10 seasons in 09 and 12 or so in 08

Any league will do good with the right people running it IMO

But on the other hand I do agree , alot of Leagues pop out of nowhere then quickly dissapear and it becomes a pain

SAPML league, in its' 13th season, running since 2003.

I see your point, Cstl, but don't see it happening with a couple of these leagues, SAPML and 2-2-0, especially right now. Over time through league and player attrition, that may be a possibility.

 

[killgod]

Here's a couple things that are different since this is a chise and not a league.

1) If you run out of wait list guys, and owners drop. You can still progress forward with the CPU without stopping at all.


2) Every league is going to be creating their own rules/systems to deal with player movement, so while we have 3-4 leagues, they really aren't going to be the same.

 

[mcstl25]

I hope so Davon.

And killgod, you make a good point about CPU players taking over. Something I had not thought of.

 

[MrBill]

I'm feeling pretty good about the list of people we have for 2-2-0 as of right now. To me the biggest issue with a lot of leagues falling apart was that the game was just down right crappy. Some of the guys that were dropping out were guys that played 10-15 games a week or more in previous years because the game was fun. We should have a decent feel for how this years leagues will look once that demo drops in a couple of weeks.

 

[mcstl25]

I'm glad that you all are optimistic about the game and leagues this year. But to be honest, even if the game is great, having 3 or 4 leagues with several owners playing in multiple leagues doesn't work. It never has and never will. Hope that I'm wrong!

 

[Saluki]

GGML played seasons all the way into april at least, with both 08 and 09, as long as the game isn't 100% garbage i think some lgs will be able to thrive

 

[mcstl25]

So what your saying is to only have one league for 32 members when the site contains many more players than that? Isnt the whole point of community involvement and not segregation?

Not necessarily. If the demand is high enough, there could be a feeder league into the primary league. It could be a minor league of sorts.

In my opinion, having one primary league would increase community involvement. If there are three or four leagues for both xbox and ps3, then it's difficult to promote any one league more than others. If there was one primary league, the VSN front page could be utilized and owners would be more apt to write game summaries, team updates, scouting reports, nominate players of the week, etc. Spots in the league would be coveted, as opposed to taken for granted.

 

[mcstl25]

GGML played seasons all the way into april at least, with both 08 and 09, as long as the game isn't 100% garbage i think some lgs will be able to thrive

Just curious, overall do members of GGML play in a lot of other Madden leagues?

 

[mcstl25]

If people wanna play in leagues and only one is offered here.. people will go elsewhere.

I agree. The scenario I present probably isn't realistic because 1) you can't tell people how many leagues they can or cannot play in, and 2) for a growing site it doesn't make sense to turn away those that would like to host a league here.

My point is that every year I see a ton of leagues starting in august and by November 1, most have failed. There's got to be a better way to hold owners accountable for their committment. Maybe even a $25 dollar deposit that is returned to league owners after completing the season would help owners stay committed...

 

[Realist]

i think alot of reasons lgs fail is because people get excited and join more than they can handle. they are in 3 or 4 leagues and cant balance it.

thats why i didnt join turducken. i wanted to but i wanted in 220 and im also running a league at my site(if anyone wants to join feel free. plenty of room) and i plan on being in 2 ncaa ODs. i know pass that i wouldnt have much time for anymore leagues.

if people could balance their time lgs would be more successful

 

[Maynard]

My biggest fear isn't owners dropping or anything like that, it's EA giving us a broken Online Franchise . We've seen it in the past where things that are said to be "great" features and gets the community excited turn out to be duds. I hope I'm wrong, I want to be wrong.

people seem to forget on last gen that madden had online franchises. They didnt work. You could get it up and running and then you would get that stupid error

i forgot what it was called but it doomed online franchises back then. It baffles me how EA gets away with acting like this is a new feature when its not

 

[JOHNNYTHECLOWN]

people seem to forget on last gen that madden had online franchises. They didnt work. You could get it up and running and then you would get that stupid error

i forgot what it was called but it doomed online franchises back then. It baffles me how EA gets away with acting like this is a new feature when its not

i think they've always said new and improved

 

[Len B]

You're right in the sense of new leagues opening up with random owners. However, the leagues we have open right now will not fail. The right people are running them with at least one year of history for most.

I'd advise no more online franchises start up, but really if people want to get in one they are allowed to.